The extremely high temperatures we’ve experienced throughout the region didn’t put a damper on the turn-out for the opening of salmon season. I was at Chelan Falls on July 1st, and I have never seen a bigger crowd. The WDFW enforcement boat did a drive by to say hello, and they said that just about everyone had caught a salmon that morning. There is more good news for anglers, too, as the main run hasn’t even made it up to our area yet!
Is getting up at 2 a.m. to go fishing worth it? When it’s the opening day of salmon season on the Columbia River in our region—you bet! I had to be up that early to finish loading the boat in the morning, rather than in 100+ degree heat the night before. Brian Anantatmula, his son Josh, and daughter Avary met me in Wenatchee at 3:30 and we headed out.

We arrived at the earliest time ever since I have been fishing Chelan Falls, and we were astonished at the light show on the river as we approached the Bebee Bridge. Trucks and trailers were parked all along the road by the launch. No problem, though, we were on the water and fishing by 5. At about 5:20 Brian’s rear rod went off and he landed a nice big king. A few minutes later my side rod bent over, but we lost the fish. Not long after Brian’s other rod buckled, and Josh reeled in another king. This all happened pretty fast, emphasizing how important it is to be on the water at first light.

We trolled for another couple of hours without another sniff. I had lost my boxes of Super Baits somehow and borrowed gear from Brian. I found one of the original style Hot Tamales and put that on one rod and a Mountain Dew on another. The fish we lost hit the Hot Tamale. Brian’s fish both hit Spin Fish. I gotta get some of these. This week’s photo is of the Anantatmula family with their Dad’s big king.

I have a trip planned for another go at Chelan Falls. This time with my buddy and fishing guide Kirt Middleton. I am also going to give the Brewster Pool a try. I talked my buddy James Lebow into going all the way up there as we can still put sockeye in the cooler. I hope the sockeye season stays open by the time we get there. Look for some photos from that trip on my FishingMagician.com website, Facebook and Instagram pages.
I wanted to get one more day of kokanee fishing in before the opening of salmon season, so I had my buddy Bill Hansen meet me in Wenatchee at 5:30 Monday morning. I know that people are getting limits in a very short time if they are on the water at first light. I felt we were in no hurry and thought we could get a bunch, even if we left later.

We started fishing at the bottom end if Mill Bay, where we found fish the last time we were out, and sure enough, they were still there. We had a bunch of fish in the first hour or two and then it got slower and slower.
After a particularly long interval with no action. I changed the colors that we were using. I went from Kokabow pink blades and spinners to orange, which has always been my favorite on Chelan. Bingo. We got into fish again. I even got an 18-incher. Probably my biggest ever on Chelan. We were beating the heat due to my Arctic Cove mister, and when the second battery died, we headed for the dock. We had 18 very nice kokanee in the cooler.
Salmon anglers have been out in force on the upper Columbia, and I am hearing about good success below Wanapum Dam, Chelan Falls, the Brewster Pool and even below Rocky Reach Dam plus, off the mouth of the Entiat River. There are good numbers of sockeye being landed in the Brewster Pool, and until further notice, sockeye season remains open. Be sure to check the WDFW website for any changes in the rules for sockeye this season. The return isn’t that good this year.

Now that summer run salmon season is underway on the Columbia River in our region, it’s time to think about the popular salmon derbies that take place. The first one is the 8th Annual Wenatchee Salmon Derby, which will take place on Friday, July 16th and Saturday, July 17th. There will be cash awarded to the Biggest Fish and Heaviest Boat Weight, and there will be lots of raffles for great prizes, too.

There will be a mandatory Driver’s Meeting at the Eagles Hall in Wenatchee on Thursday, July 15th, starting at 5 p.m. The derby boundaries are from Rock Island to Wells Dams. Get tickets by going to www.wenatcheesalmonderby.com.

If you haven’t heard, the Brewster Salmon Derby is on this year. After a couple of bumpy seasons for summer run returns. I have to thank Lori and Randy Kratzer for hanging in there to keep the derby going. A big thanks to all the sponsors that have stuck with them during this bumpy ride, too. It will happen the first weekend in August as usual. I will have more details on the derby soon.

Taking a look at the dam counts I see that the number of kings and sockeye coming over Bonneville Dam is tapering off. The number of kings coming over Rocky Reach is just under 2,000 a day still. There are plenty of fresh summer runs making their way to the popular fishing grounds above Rocky Reach. Sockeye numbers are falling off sharply, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a notice of a closure to fishing for them sometime soon. Better get out and get after them!

I will be focusing on the salmon fishing for a few trips, but I have other great fisheries in the region I want to try, too. Now that the Colville Reservation is open I want to get back to a couple of my favorite spots. Omak Lake is high on my list to fish every year. The Lahontan cutthroat fishing on this lake is out of this world.
Good luck wherever you’re fishing. I hope to see you out there!